The invention relates generally to computer systems and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a graphical user interface for displaying the set union of file objects (files and directories) from multiple client computer systems in a single file browser display.
As computer system technology has matured (hardware and software), the use of computer system networks has increased. As used herein, a computer network comprises a plurality of computer systems (e.g., workstations, servers and personal computers) coupled through a communication medium. For example, an organization may implement a local area network (“LAN”) internally while also providing access to a wide area network (“WAN”)such as the Internet or a company-wide leased line. Connectivity between different computer systems in a network may be made via a combination of physical or wireless technologies.
Organizations typically employ experts, referred to as system administrators, to monitor and maintain their computer networks. One task of a system administrator is to set-up or configure computer systems for other users. In this context, a computer's configuration refers to its operating system capabilities and features as well as the user applications and operational parameters associated with the use of these applications and operating systems. For operational and cost efficiency, it is often desirable that all computers assigned to a group of users (e.g., students in a computer lab and employees in a common department) be configured identically. This, in turn, frequently requires a system administrator to compare the contents of one computer's file system with the content and structure of other file systems and, often, further involves moving and/or copying files (including directories) from a first location to a second location. As used herein, a “file system” is the ordered collection of files and directories stored on one or more storage units (e.g., floppy drives, magnetic and optical disk drives, disk partitions and logical drives) maintained, administered and controlled by a given operating system instance.
Most modern computer systems provide a graphical user interface (GUI) application through which a user may view the structure and content of her file system (e.g., a “file browser”). File browser applications also generally permit the user to view the structure and content of remote file systems if they are mounted to the user's system. In one embodiment (see FIG. 1), prior art file browser application 100 permits a user to view the structure and content of mounted (local or remote) file systems. As shown, the structure and content of remote computer system Feynman 105 and local storage unit “Macintosh HD” 110 may be seen. Further, by selectively activating the triangular icons/buttons to the left of individual directories a user may “step down” into the file system—displaying file and directory objects that are “under” the current level. For example, it can be seen that storage unit 110 includes “AppleWorks 6 Updater Log” file object 115 and a number of directory objects or folders, e.g., Applications folder 120 and Documents folder 125. One drawback with a file browser application in accordance with FIG. 1 is that it is difficult to compare the contents of specific directories unless they are fortuitously displayed one right under the other and they each contain a sufficiently small number of objects that they can be displayed on less than a single screen. This difficulty is insurmountable when the contents of three or more locations are to be compared.
In another embodiment (see FIG. 2), prior art file browser application 200 permits a user to view and compare the contents of two directories (on the same or different computer systems) in a single display window, albeit with the contents of each selected location in a separate pane. For example, the contents of Computer-1's 205 Application directory 210 is shown in pane 215, while the contents of Computer-2's 220 Application directory 225 is shown in pane 230. While this technique permits the side-by-side comparison of two directory structures, it nevertheless requires a user (e.g., a system administrator) to individually compare the contents of each directory. For example, Computer-1's Application directory 210 contains 62 items while Computer-2's Application directory 225 contains only 28. Which of the 28 are common to the two directories is not easily discernable. Further, the technique of FIG. 2 is not applicable when more than two locations are to be compared.
In yet another embodiment, multiple file browser application instances may be used simultaneously to display the content of multiple locations. For example, three (3) file browser applications in accordance with FIG. 1 may be used to display the contents of three different file system locations (i.e., directories) so that they may be compared (once aligned side-by-side). Similarly, one file browser application in accordance with FIG. 1 and one file browser application in accordance with FIG. 2 may be used to display the contents of three different directories so that they may be compared (once aligned side-by-side). It will be recognized that such combination techniques do not provide a convenient or easy means to simultaneously view the contents of multiple file system locations and are further limited to the number of display windows that may be arranged one next to the other on the user's video display unit.
Thus, it would be beneficial to provide a means to permit users to easily compare the contents of multiple locations using a single file browser application and further, to facilitate the movement of file and/or directory objects from one location to another (e.g., copy, move-and-delete and synchronization operations).